By: Matt Gross
Imagine for a moment that the practically perfect in every way Julie Andrews decides to reprise her role as Mary Poppins and sing the following as a public service announcement (PSA): “It’s supercalifragilisticendometriosis. Even though the pain of it is simply quite atrocious. If you say it loud enough, you’ll always sound endometriocious. Supercalifragilisticendometriosis.” Say that backwards if you can: Metriosisendoexpisticfragicalirupus. Such a PSA would “indubitably” serve to bring awareness and attention to endometriosis, a “hidden disorder” in part because of the still-pervasive stigma and sensitivity that surrounds menstrual problems.
Around 190 million women worldwide suffer from endometriosis, which involves the implantation of uterine tissue outside of the uterine cavity. The main manifestations of the disease are chronic pelvic pain, infertility, heavy bleeding, and fatigue. Currently, treatment options include surgical removal of lesions or medical management to suppress ovarian hormone production. An urgent unmet medical need exists for new non-hormonal treatments that do not interfere with fertility.
The activity of the EpicentRx lead candidate, RRx-001/nibrozetone, is under investigation as an anti-endometriosis agent in the lab of Erin Greaves, a knowledgeable and proactive Associate Professor at Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, England. Initial in vitro and in vivo studies have been very positive, which fits with the anti-inflammatory and antioxidative properties of RRx-001/nibrozetone.
Currently RRx-001/nibrozetone is given intravenously. However, after the development of an oral formulation, Dr. Greaves may decide to give RRx-001/nibrozetone with C12H22O11. After all, as Mary Poppins might say (rather than sing) if she were a chemist, a spoonful of C12H22O11 helps the medicine go down.